Elon Academy welcomes new team as summer programs ramp up

As Elon Academy prepares to kick-start its summer programming, the college access and success program is welcoming several new members to its team, each with their own personal connection to the program and its work.

Elon Academy, housed in Elon University’s Center for Access and Success, is a multi-phase program for academically promising high school students in Alamance County with a financial need and/or no family history of college.

The graduating cohort of Elon Academy will be recognized during the President’s Reception on May 7. Then, the academy will welcome a new cohort of scholars during orientation on May 10. The Summer Academy, which starts June 15, will include three consecutive summer residential experiences prior to the sophomore, junior and senior years of high school, as well as year-round Saturday programs for students and families.

The summer after high school graduation, scholars and families also participate in the Elon Academy Transitions to College Program. Once on their respective college campuses, Elon Academy college scholars and families are provided with continuing support through the Elon Academy College Success Program to ensure college completion.

Recognizing potential

Leading the program is Emily Wiersma, who joined Elon Academy as director in fall 2024 after most recently leading transition programs at UNC Greensboro.

“The impact of Elon Academy is so evident and it’s just undeniable. You can see it. You can feel it,” said Wiersma. “It’s incredible when you see scholars start to recognize that potential in themselves. It really is a privilege to just be alongside them in that journey to help them recognize and reach their potential.”

Wiersma earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Mount Union in Ohio and a Master of Education in college student personnel from Ohio University. She has spent her entire career in education, establishing and leading intentional initiatives designed to empower students to overcome barriers and achieve success.

As Wiersma takes on her new role, she has created a strategic plan that includes developing a comprehensive competency-based college success curriculum, embedding well-being into programming, building family programs and launching a college scholar program in fall 2025.

A transformational experience

Associate Director of Elon Academy Kristin Ring ’12 is returning to Elon after earning a bachelor’s degree in human service studies in 2012. During her time at Elon, Ring was a scholar in the Odyssey Program, also housed in the Center for Access and Success.

“I loved my time here at Elon and I had a pretty transformational experience,” she said. “I knew as a student wrapping up my undergrad career that I wanted to work with first-generation, low-income students. That’s been my passion throughout my career.”

Ring earned her master’s degree in college student personnel from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and worked at West Virginia Wesleyan College, launching their first-generation student programming. After moving back to North Carolina, Ring worked with a TRIO Talent Search program, a federally funded college access initiative.

“In TRIO I worked with middle and high school students, so this is the best of both worlds for me. I get to be back on a college campus and have that residential experience with students, but also still integrate my work with the K-12 system and specifically high school students and their families,” said Ring. “I’m definitely excited to be back on campus, and I’m also excited to build those connections with the people in the program, students and families alike.”

As associate director, Ring will help develop programming for families, provide staff supervision and support and assist in developing student leader/training programs.

“I think we’re in such a good spot because all of the people on this team are passionate about the work and they’re excited for the work,” said Ring. “We’re here and ready to push forward all the good things about Elon Academy that have been around for so long and then think about what the new evolution of Elon Academy looks like moving forward.”

The impact of Elon Academy is so evident and it’s just undeniable.

-Emily Wiersma, director of Elon Academy

Faith, empathy and connection

Throughout her academic career at Elon, Briston Whitt ‘23 worked with Elon Academy as a summer mentor and then as a college mentor.

“I just love Elon Academy, I love what it stands for and I love the impact that I’ve seen it make in students’ lives, and I think it’s a gem on Elon’s campus,” said Whitt, who was also a scholar in the Odyssey Program.

Following her graduation in 2023 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting, Whitt took a year to travel and enjoy herself before returning to Elon Academy as program coordinator and, most recently, as coordinator of student involvement in the Division of Student Life. In June, Whitt will join Elon Academy again, this time as assistant director.

“I did a values assessment recently and my core values are faith, empathy and connection and I feel like college access work is the embodiment of all those things and it helps students who are well deserving, that can’t control their circumstances, be able to have the opportunity to achieve as much as the next person,” said Whitt

As assistant director, Whitt will primarily work on scholar recruitment and supporting the sophomore scholars in their first year of the academy.

“I am most excited about the relationships that I’m going to make,” said Whitt. “Being part of Elon Academy up until this point, the relationships that I built in my first summer as a mentor, I still have those relationships to this day. So I’m very excited about connecting with this new cohort.”

‘Winning the lottery’

It’s a full circle moment for several new Elon Academy staff members who were scholars in the program and say it made a difference in their ability to attend college.

“Joining the program, to me, was like winning the lottery,” said Gaby Vazquez, Elon Academy college access program associate, who joined the team in fall 2024. “I don’t think college was ever an idea in my mind until I got to high school and I had family members who were part of the program. Seeing them go through the program and hearing them talk about it exposed me to the environment of what college is and how it is an option.”

Vazquez says the program was instrumental in her earning a degree in criminal justice from Guilford College in 2023. During her college career, Vazquez became an Elon Academy summer mentor, helping students as they navigate the program. Now, as the college access program associate, she’s working with the junior class as they reach a pivotal moment in their educational journeys.

“A lot of them say that junior year is one of their hardest years in high school, so it’s about being by their side when they are stressed and when they need to get things done,” she said. “It’s really showing them the brighter side of things and creating learning experiences in a fun and exciting way.”

Vazquez also supervises the student-leaders, including their college mentors and academic coaches.

“Given that I was a summer mentor for three years, I rely on my experience and seeing what can be done better, what can be kept in and what can be used to further involvement in the programs,” she said.

Full circle moment

Manny Campos was also a scholar in the Elon Academy and, after earning a degree in mathematics from UNC Chapel Hill, he joined the program as the assistant director of college success in January 2024.

Campos works with the senior class of scholars as they apply for college and make major academic decisions.

“It’s definitely very different to be on the other end,” said Campos. “One of the biggest things for me is continuing to provide that support for students and just helping them get to where they need to be.”

Joining the program, to me, was like winning the lottery.

-Gaby Vazquez, Elon Academy college access program associate

Melissa Chacon Villalobos was a scholar in the fourth cohort of Elon Academy and is now the coordinator for well-being. Chacon Villalobos earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNC Greensboro in human development and family studies, but never strayed far from the Elon Academy. During monthly summer programs, she would come to work as a Spanish interpreter and became a summer mentor during graduate school.

“I always felt drawn back and loved the time with the scholars,” she said.

After doing some administrative work with the program in the summer of 2024, she took the leap to become coordinator of well-being, developing programming around well-being both with Elon Academy and other programs in the Center for Access and Success.

“Having grown up in Alamance County and having grown up as a low-income, first-generation student is going to help me sympathize with students but help me have a perspective on what they might be going through that not a lot of people may have,” said Chacon Villalobos.

Find more information on the Summer Academy and how to apply to Elon Academy on the Elon Academy website.